Kowal Investment Group LLC Increases Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Kowal Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,367 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,325,265 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $469,527,000 after buying an additional 53,809 shares in the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 15,247 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,153,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 18,953 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the second quarter worth about $604,000. Finally, Huber Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 70.9% in the second quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC now owns 33,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $4,702,000 after purchasing an additional 13,818 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.13.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Edward Screven sold 37,221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.19, for a total transaction of $5,218,011.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $368,246,045.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,610,402 shares of company stock worth $230,556,257. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $168.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $173.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $465.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.